The company, which competes with the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, also aims to increase its GMV to $1.2 billion by the end of March 2016.PTI | Updated: September 18, 2015, 08:51 IST

If you come to my office and speak to me, the phrase that you will most hear would be "Ab tum batao (now, you say)." Now, this has become an office joke. I have a habit of making people repeat what I said in meetings. Through this, I am able to detect whether my colleagues have understood what I have said or not. Mostly, people get only 50% of what I just said. So, when somebody is late to a meeting, I don't repeat myself, but I make someone else repeat what I spoke for the benefit of the late comer. If something is lost in communication, I clarify. I have slight dyslexia. So, I listen to audio books on my way to office. When I reach the office, I am usually half way through a book. I am interested in astrophysics and quantum physics.It makes me realise that we are very insignificant in the larger universal scheme of things. The only time we have, is now."E-commerce firm ShopClues today said it has added close to 1.7 lakh merchants to take the seller-base on its platform to 2.5 lakh.

The company, which competes with the likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, also aims to increase its GMV to $1.2 billion by the end of March 2016.

"The fact that there are 2.5 lakh merchants currently onboard our platform leveraging our unique value proposition underlines the belief they have in our business model and services. We shall continue to deliver high-quality business solutions to our valued partners in the future," ShopClues co-founder and CEO Sanjay Sethi told PTI.

He added that the company had over 81,000 merchants on its platform at the end of December last year.

"We continue to strengthen our position in the online shopping segment by offering buyers an unparalleled inventory and exhaustive catalogue of products they wish to buy. Our current run rate is $600 million," Sethi said.

ShopClues will cross the GMV run rate of $1.2 billion by March 2016, he added. GMV is a term used in online retailing to indicate the gross merchandise value of the products sold through the marketplace over a certain period of time.

ShopClues, which offers a managed marketplace, claims to have more than 60 million monthly visitors on its website.

Founded in July 2011 in Silicon Valley, ShopClues has a team of over 850 people and is funded by investors like Tiger Global Management, Helion Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners, among others.